Tile cutter



March 23- 1926.

- G. F. JOHNSTON TILE CUTTER Filed Dec. 29, 1925 3 sheets sheet 1 G. F. JOHNS ON V TILE CUTTER Filed Dec. 29, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 R mini Patented Mar; 23, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT ounce.

GARLAND r. JOHNSTON, or ronT noneE, IOWA, Ass'rGNon To JOHNSTON cL-AY WORKS,

OI! OLAYWORKS, IOWA, A CORPORATION OF IOWA.

TILE CUTTER.

Application .filed December 29, 1925. Serial No. 78,158.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GARLAND F. JOHN \STON, a citizen of the United States, andv a resident of Fort Dodge, in the county of lVebster and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Tile Cutter, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a tile cutter ofsimple, durable and inexpensive construction so arranged and constructed that a column of plastic material may be fed to the same from a tile machine and bent into a curved formation and provided with means whereby the said curved column. may besevered into sections of equal lengths having their cut ends lying in planes parallel with the radius o'fthe curvature of said column, the blocks or tileformed by said.

cutter being particularly adapted to be used having a series of cutter members arranged substantially perpendicular to the face of the stock conveyor for said cutter, and arranged to move transversely through the stock, and at the same time' being advanced by said conveyor to sever the stockin sections of. equal lengths, and provide means whereby the movement of the cutter member through the stock may be comparatively slow and at the same time produce a maximum outp'utfrom the cutter.

A further object is to provide :a tile cutter especially adapted'to cut a column of plastic material into sections, said column of plastic material being provided with openings of rectangular cross section, said cutter being so constructed that the cutter 'member will move transversely across said column and said openings and in a direction 0 drawings, in which parallel with 'the elongation of said sectional. openings.

My invention consists in the construction,

arrangement and combination of the vari ous parts of the device, whereby theobjects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my. claims, and illustrated in the accompanying Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved tile cutter.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same.

. of a block formed by my'improved tile cut-;-

ter.

My improved tile cuttercomprises a base 10 hav1ng supportlnglegs 11 arranged in pairs, each pair being provided with a horizontally arranged supporting bar 12, said bars being of considerable length. Mounted onthe central portion of the bars 12 is a pair of spacedframe members 13, the inner face of each of said frame members being provided with a channel 14, the upper side of which is provided with a curved portion 15, while the underside of said channel. is provided with a straight portion '16. The

adjacent ends of the straight'and curved .pOI'tlOllS are connected by curved portions 17 and 18, so that a continuous channel is formed in each of the frame members 13 desi ned to receive conveyor rollers 19 which are rotatively .mounted on the conveyor chains 20. The saidchains 20 are providedwith cross slats 21. The said, cross slats and said-chains form what I shall term the stock conveyor. i

The central portion of the forward edge of each alternateslat-2l is provided with a hinge member 22 "to which is secured the forward edge of a pallet '23. The rear :end of each of said pallets rests on the adjacent intermediate slat 21 and is free to swing outwardly fromsaid-slat-a considerable distance. This out-ward movement "is limited by means of a chain section 21. The parts are so proportioned that a sli-glrt space is provided between the adjacent ends of said pallets. i The forward edge of each of said alternate slats is provided at each end with a bracket member 25, each'of which is provided with 'a loop portion 26, said loop portions being designed 'to slidably receive a shaft or :bar 27, said bar resting- 'substa1i- 'tially between-the adjacent ends of said pallets. One of each of said "brackets 25 is provided with an upwardly projecting arm 28 having at its upper end an opening 29. One

end of the bar 27 is provided with a perpendicular and outwardly extending portion 30 which terminates in an inwardly extending portion 31 parallel with the member 27 and slidably mounted in the opening 29. The inner end of the member 31 is provided with a clamp device 32 for securing one end of the cutter wire 33, the other end of which is secured to the bar 27 in the manner clearly shown in Figure 3. A brace member 34 is provided for stiffening the member 31.

By this arrangement it will be seen that the bar 27 may be moved longitudinally in the members 26 in such a manner that the cut ter wire 33 will pass longitudinally through the space between the adjacent ends ofthe pallets 23. The arm 31 is of such length that the wire 33 may rest in position 011 either side of the pallets 23 with the plane of movement of said cutter wire substantially perpendicular to the face of the stock supporting conveyor, or parallel with the radius of the curved portion of said conveyor.

The member 80 of each of the bars 27 is provided with aroller 35, while the opposite end of each of the bars 27 is provided with a roller 36. The rollers are designed to engage a guide member 37 provided with a portion 38 parallel with the stock supporting conveyor having at its rear end an outwardly curved portion 89, and at its forward end an inwardly inclined portion 40, while the rollers 36 are designed to engage the inner face of a guide member 41 having a portion 42 parallel with the stock supporting conveyor and opposite the portion 38 of the member 37. The rear end of the member 42 is also provided with an outwardly extending portion 43. The forward end of the portion 42 is provided with an outwardly inclined portion 44 substantially opposite and parallel with the member 40. The member 44 terminates in an inwardly extending inclined portion 45. The distance between the portions 38 and 42 and the por tions 40 and 44 is equal to the length of the bars 2?. The parts are so arranged that the rollers 35 and 36 will engage the inner faces of the members 37 and 41, so that the cutter wires 33 will rest on the far side of the pallets 23, as viewed in Figure 1, while the rollers are between the members 38 and 42. It will then be seen that if the top run of the conveyor is moved to the right, as viewed in Figure 1, the bars 27 will be ad vanced therewith and the cutters 33 will be caused to move inwardly through the slots between the adjacent ends of the pallets 23, and through a column of plastic material resting on top of said pallets. This inward movement is caused by the inclined portion 40 of the member 37 the movement continuing until the cutters have passed throughthe said column of material to the inner side of said pallets, at which time the column of plastic material is severed into sections of I equal lengths, with the severed surfaces of said column perpendicular to the side edges of said sections, and parallel to the radius of the curvature of the column. The rollers 36 will then engage the inclined portion 45, which will cause the cutters 33 to be returned to their normal position on the far side of the pallets.

Motion is imparted tothe stock conveyor through the'i riction between the lower face of the plastic column and the upper surface oi the supporting pallets as the said colunm of plastic material is advanced. The said column of plastic material is designed to be delivered to the rear end of the curved .iortion of the conveyor, and to lie in a position thereon, as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2.

In Figure 6 I have shown afperspective view of one'end of a tile'46 which is rectangular in cross section, having large openings 4'? which extend longitudinally with the column. and in the wall between said openings an d the face at said block is a series of small openings 48 which are also rectangular in cross section and usually about one-eighth of an inch wide. This type of block is usuallv ted onto the cenveyo1" .vith one of the side faces resting on the tace ot the pallets. It will be seen that in cutting this type of a block considerable advantage is gained by moving the cutter wire transversely across the block in a line parallel or horizontally with the sectional openings, when the block is in the position shown in Figure 6, over passing a wire through the block perpendicularly, as is customary with the ordinary tile cutters now on the market, in that as the wire is passed through the said bloclr certainamount ot the plastic material is bent or curved inwardly into the said openings 47 and 48,'whichwould cause the ends of the openings 48 'to be almost entirely filled up. while if ,the wire were moved horizontally with said openings this ditiiculty is almost entirely eliminated, as r the filling will only take place in one end of each ot said openings,

It will further be seen that the blocks or tile may be formed of any curvature by providing a cutter having the upper portion.

of the conveyor formed with the desired curvature, and that the ends of the blocks when so formed will always be parallel with the radius of said curvature, so that the blocks, when placed in a wall of a building of the same diameter as the curvature of the stock conveyor said ends will lie adjacent and parallel to'each other. i 7

It will be seen that the device may be utilized to cut straight tile as well as curve'l tile. simply by providing a cutter frame having its top run traveling in a straight line rather than in a curved surface, in

which case the severed ends of the sections will be perpendicu a r toal'l 0f the sides-of the block.

Another advantage of this construction lies in the fact that the cutter wir'es may be made to travel transversely through the plastic material at a comparatively slow velocity, as a number of the cutting wires may be in action at the same time. The speed of the wires traveling through the plastic material is determined by the inclination of the members -10 and ll relative to the longitudinal movement of the stock conveyor, and the speed at which the said stock conveyor is operated.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a tile cutter of simple, durable and inexpensive construction which is positive and accurate in its action and to which a column of plastic. material may be delivered and formed circular and cut into sections of uniform length either with beveled or square ends, which especially adapted to cuttile of the double wall type to produce straight and uniform edges of the severed wall members.

I claim as my invention: 7

1. A tile cutter comprising a support, an endless conveyor, a series of transversely arranged cutter bars carried by said conveyor and capable of longitudinal movement, a cutterfor each of said bars, and means for imparting a reciprocating movement to said cutter bars as the said conveyor is advanced, substantially as described and for the purposes stated.

2, A tile cutter comprising a support having anendless conveyor, a series of stock supporting pallets, means for supporting one end of each of said pallets to said con-.

veyor with the forward end of one of said pallets slightly spaced from the rear end of the adjacent pallet, a cutter bar slidably mounted beneath the joint between each pair of adjacent pallets, a cutter member for each of said bars arranged substantially perped dicularly to the surface of said conveyor and designed to pass through the space between said pallets, and means for moving each of said cutter bars transversely through stock carried by said pallets as the said conveyor is advanced.

3. A tile cutter comprising a support having an endless conveyor, a series of stock supporting pallets, means for supporting one end of each said pallets to said conveyor with the forward end of one of said pallets slightly spaced from the rear end of the adj acent pallet, a cutter bar slidably mounted beneath the joint between each pair of adjacent pallets, a cutter member for each of said bars arranged substantially perpendicularly to the surface of said conveyor and designed to pass through the space between said pallets means for moving each of said cutter bars transversely through stock carried by said pallets as the said conveyoris advanced, and means for returning said cutter bars to their normal position of movement,

4. A tile cutter comprising a support, an endless conveyor including a series of stock supporting pallets having their adjacent ends spaced slightly apart, a cutter bar slidably mounted parallel with and opposite each of the joints between said pallets, one end of each of said cutter bars being provided with a perpendicular port-ion terminating in an inwardly extending portion parallel to said bar, means for detachably support-ing a cutter wire between the inner end of said inwardly extending portion and to said bar, and means for imparting longitudinal movement independent to each of said cutter bars to cause said cutter wires to travel transversely through stock carried by said pallets.

5. A tile cutter comprising a support, an endless conveyor including a series of stock supporting pallets having their adjacent ends spaced slightly apart, a cutter bar slidably mounted parallel with and opposite each of the joints between said pallets, one

end of each of said cutter bars being provided with a. perpendicular portion terminating in an inwardly extending portion parallel to said bar, means for detachably supporting a cutter wire between the inner end of said inwardly extending portion and to said bar, means for imparting longitudinal movement independent to each of said cutter bars to cause said cutter wires to travel transversely through stock carried by said pallets, a roller rotativel mounted on each end of said bars, a guideliar for engaging the rollers at one end of said cutter bars for moving the said cutter bars in one direction, and a guide bar for engaging the rollers at the opposite end of said cutter bars for returning said cutter bars as said conveyor is advanced. 6. In a tile cutter, a support, a horizontally arranged endless conveyor, a series of stock bearing pallets for said conveyor having their adjacent ends slightly spaced apart, means for. pivotally connecting one end of each of said pallets to said conveyor with its opposite end fre to swing outwardly therefrom, means for limiting the outward move.- ment of the free end. of each of said pallets, a cutterfor each of said pallets, and means for moving said cutter transversely through the space between the adjacent ends of said pallets and through stock carried thereby. 7. A tile cutter comprising a support, an endless horizontal conveyor, means for causing the upper run of said conveyor to travel through a circular path about a horizontal axis, sald conveyor being provided with a serles of pallets arranged end to end 111 a longitudinal row With a slight space between 1y through said column of plastic material the adjacent ends, said pallets being deas the said conveyor is advanced, the movesigned to support and carry a curved colment of said cutters being in paths parallel 1 umn of plastic material, a series of cutters to the axis of said circular portion of'said arranged in radial planes adjacent to one conveyor.

side 01 said column of plastic material, and

means for advancing said cutters transverse- GARLAND F. J OHNSTON 

